How to Eat Bread at Dinner Without Gaining Weight

Carbs have become such a dietary bogeyman that bread lovers looking to shed some pounds are left stumped at the dinner table. But don't worry, we have good news: Carbs alone don’t make you fat. In fact, it's actually their effect on your blood sugar that causes fat storage. Luckily, there are ways to blunt the blood-sugar spike that usually accompanies chowing down on simple carbs such as pasta, cookies, and white bread. According to a scientific study, one method might be as simple as eating a bread roll after the rest of your dinner.

When to Eat Bread for Dinner to Stay Slim

The research, published in Diabetes Care, found that blood sugar levels were cut by as much as 30 percent when people consumed carbs after eating protein and vegetables. Researchers instructed 11 subjects to test the effect of food order on blood sugar levels by eating two identical meals that included carbs (ciabatta bread and orange juice), protein (skinless chicken breast), and vegetables (lettuce and tomato salad with a low-fat vinaigrette and steamed broccoli with butter) one week apart. The only difference between the two meals was the order in which the participants ate the food.

As bread lovers ourselves, this news certainly has us cheering. We're still up for giving low-carb bread a try, but at the end of the day, what we really want is the good old-fashioned dinner roll we know and love — especially when it's served warm and fresh from the oven. That's why it's so refreshing to know that our favorite restaurant meals or pasta leftovers won't be affected, as long as we keep in mind the order of foods we're scarfing down.

These results show great promise for incorporating modest amounts of the less-than-healthy foods you love — such as those dinner rolls — into an overall healthy diet. Just make sure to dig into those veggies first.

Next, learn which foods can help you banish bloating in the video below: